PEOPLES: New People s Relations in Eastern Mediterranean

Transcription

1 PEOPLES: New People s Relations in Eastern Mediterranean «Κατευθυντήριες γραµµές για µια πολιτική στήριξης της υποδοχής και της ένταξης των µεταναστών και των αιτούντων άσυλο» Guidelines for a policy aimed at immigrants and asylum seekers integration 1

2 Thanks We would like to express our gratitude for all those who, according to their various fields of interest, helped with the preparation of the present publication. Special mention goes to Mrs Anna Dorangricchia, Mrs Rosanna Bottalico, Mrs Erminia Rizzi, Mrs Veronica D Angelo, Mrs Maria Rosaria Carli and Mrs Georgia Karavangeli. Copyright: Regional Development Fund for Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region The present publication is issued by Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region that, as a partner in 13 projects funded under PIC INTERREG III , supports the European cross-border, interregional and transnational cooperation. Cover photo: 2

3 Index FOREWORD Identification of guidelines for regional policy makers Identification of guidelines for labour market integration Identification of guidelines for socio-health integration Guidelines for the identification and adoption of reception and integration policies for asylum seekers, refugees, or people who otherwise need international protection, in line with the objectives and strategies of territorial cooperation. 3

4 List of the Tables Table 1 : Strategies of intervention for the labour market integration Table 2 : Strategies of intervention for socio-health integration Table 3 : Strategies of intervention for asylum seekers integration 4

5 FOREWORD The project New People s Relations in Eastern Mediterranean / PEOPLES is funded under PIC Interreg IIIB Achimed, a transnational cooperation programme aimed to improve the programming capacities of regional and local public boards in the management of migration flows and integration policies. Under measure 1.1, Peoples project, that involves 9 partners with a budget of Meuro over a period of 2 years, is aimed to: «create and develop a permanent Observatory for the formulation of proposals relating to governance policies of the migration processes, planned and implemented in the local area covered by the project, taking account of the impacts on the socio-economic and on the employment polices of the countries of destination». The role of the Observatory articulates at two levels: To identify and apply a homogeneous approach shared by the institutional stakeholders to the collection, systematization and networking of the data on migration flows, socioeconomic impact, governance policies of the flows and implementation of asylum policies, To promote the exchange and dissemination of best practices on integration policies at regional and local level implemented by public institutions and by social actors dealing with immigration. The observatory is an instrument aimed to continue the previous experience funded under PON Security, that funded the creation of an observatory managed by Campania Region with the partnership of the objective 1 regions on migration movements in the South. The observatory concluded its activities in 2005 and it has recently been re-activated for Puglia Region while for Campania Region the new observatory was activated some time ago. The data collected under the project will be available for the new structures. The activities planned to implement the objective, organized in macro-phases, were the following: Mapping and monitoring activities aimed to the preparation of information sheets concerning: i) management policies of migration flows (national regulations, management of the quota system, supply and demand for jobs, economic sectors, localization of the areas of origin and destination of the flows, selection, training and orientation mechanisms and labour market integration); ii) best practices in the field of integration policies (access to socio-health services, integration in the Area Plans, housing, education); Detection and sharing of impact indicators of migration flows in the countries of destination: employment levels, socio-demographic structure, activation of associations networks; Organization of regional and transnational Workshops with the involvement of local decision-makers and stakeholders; Creation of a portal for the networking and analysis of the data collected. A specific under-theme concerned the policies for refugees and asylum seekers, a theme for which the scientific responsible is Basilicata Region that started the experimentation of: a) information and awareness-raising pathways also within the International Cities of Refuge Network (Municipality of Potenza); b) three thematic labs (e-learning and apprenticeships) for at least eight refugees beneficiaries of the programme for assisted repatriation (Municipality of Matera). Basilicata Region together with its partners realized also a compared analysis of the legislative framework and of the reception and integration policies for refugees, with the aim to identify effective strategies, with specific regard to the adoption of integrated approaches of multi-level governance. The outputs were presented in a seminar hold in Potenza beginning of April. 5

6 The most important project outputs are the following On line database and archives (project web site) Sheets of the regions on the governance of the flows and on the integration policies Mapping of the management policies of migration flows at regional and local level Best practices manual Guidelines for the planning of intervention measures Identification of the (European national and regional) funding instruments Regional and transnational Workshops Draft of the project of cooperation with third countries under Enpi Med programme The implementation of the adopted work plan was delayed by a series of difficulties including the shortage of homogeneous, structured and comparable statistical data available both at level of Italian regions (in particular Puglia and Basilicata) and of the Greek partners. This situation suggests that: the phenomenon is complex, and not always the institutions have sufficient resources and capacities to interpret it; the overlapping of institutions and competences prevents from defining a clear framework; the regions with an ancient tradition of migrations like Sicily and Campania have more structured data compared to other regions and institutions, partners of the project; scarce availability of Greek police and prefectures to supply data. Other weaknesses are: the different administrative and institutional competences (regions-provinces); the risk to overlap projects and initiatives started at regional and national level without managing to coordinate and capitalize the results. These weaknesses determine the need to integrate the collection and analysis on-the-spot of the statistical data for the quality analysis, the results of which are reported below. In this sense, one of the most important project outputs was the mapping of the transnational cooperation projects on migration policies implemented at regional level and relating to Peoples project (employment policies, social integration policies, protection of asylum seekers and refugees). This map supplies basic data suitable to identify the intervention priorities at local level and also aimed guidelines for the already ongoing planning activities that could become a pilot project funded under European funds, for example under ENPI MED neighbourhood programme, for which the call for proposals is expected for September 2008, or under other DCI programmes (Migration programmes), in which cooperation involves also the countries of origin. Other project outputs are: A comparative legislative framework at Italian and Greek level The Mapping of all the initiatives funded at regional and EU level in the various local areas The Mapping of the financing lines available As to the management of the Project, the Steering Committee supported by a scientific Committee, that met regularly since September 2006 with final meeting in Naples, were in charge of the coordination of the technical and scientific activities. In the framework of the project, each partner organized an event for the presentation of the project outputs at local level and 4 project meetings were held in turn be the partners. All the outputs are available on the web site: 6

7 The site is articulated in various sections, including: News Sections (publication of EU and national reports, programmes and calls for proposals, information of conferences and events etc) Sections of statistical database Library Section (European and national documents) Registration and access 7

8 Identification of guidelines for regional policy makers On the basis of both the quality and quantity analyses realized under the project and the mapping of the initiatives started and ongoing in the various local areas, the intervention priorities at local level (reception, work placement, access to Welfare, interculturality) were identified and the guidelines for the planning of aimed and concerted guidelines shared. The intervention priorities identified for the development of the guidelines include: 1. To promote the integration of sectoral policies aimed to immigrants in order to reduce the fragmentation of the interventions promoted (for ex. the support role of the cultural mediator for socio-health services); 2. To promote a multilevel governance approach through mechanisms of inter-institutional connection (at central regional and local level); 3. To strengthen the structuration process of institutional and social networks supporting integration processes (social public and private sectors, third sector); 4. To improve the activities of monitoring, analysis and diffusion of data and information relating to migration flows and integration, through the networking of the various regional observatories (monitoring of immigration dynamics, housing, socio-school placement of children, education and training, monitoring of the exercise of the right of asylum) In particular, the project focussed on the definition of guidelines for the adaptation and/or adoption of new approaches in the management of migration flows with specific regard to: 1) labour market integration of immigrants; 2) social integration of immigrants; and 3) reception policies for asylum seekers and refugees. On the basis of the results of the comparative analysis and of the reports realized at regional and local level, some weaknesses were faced with the aim to improve migration policies in the Peoples thematic areas. The quantity quality research, carried out in the local areas of the project, aimed to the identification of the most important characteristics and indicators of social integration and the immigrants relationship with the local labour market, allowed the detection of the most relevant weaknesses experienced and needs expressed by foreigners. A further initiative was the mapping of the activities funded in recent years BY THE PROJECT PARTNERS for the integration of immigrants and the evaluation of the policies promoting these interventions. The comparison between the results of this work and the results of the research allowed also the elaboration of some orientation lines for future regional policies, from a system point of view. The most important stimuli of the work developed below concern the need to define, at regional level, cross-sectoral methodologies to strongly characterize and integrate the policies, filling the gaps due to the fragmentation of the interventions promoted up to now. In this sense, the priority need is that to integrate the policies aimed to the integration of immigrants with other policy fields, like for example training, with the commitment to recognize and valorise professional figures essential for the sector (like the cultural mediator or the peer operator). The most important indications concerning the integration policies of immigrants into the labour market and the access to the socio-health services are explained below. The research on the characteristics of the migration flows in Campania Region shows that the phenomenon is extremely complex and articulated, because of its composition and of both the 8

9 relationship between immigrants and socio-health services and the modalities of social and work placement. Different are the nationalities of belonging, the migration models and projects, the gender composition and the age distribution of the different communities. Equally different are the levels of knowledge that immigrants have about the social organization of the countries of destination and, in many cases, foreigners know nothing or almost nothing about their rights and protections they are awarded in the field of health and/or employment. In other cases, the relationship between foreigners and the service system is complicated, or even prevented, by the lack of operational instruments and resources able to support and facilitate the matching of different cultures, in some cases each other ununderstandable not properly because of the parties lack of will but because of the reciprocal lack of information, knowledge, experience. Just think of the complexity and peculiarity of a relationship between a Muslim woman and a doctor, especially a gynaecologist. It is evident that the presence of a female cultural mediator, together with a preliminary action of information and preparation on both the doctor and the woman, are essential for the implementation and success of the relationship. In some situations, it is the history and the experience built before migration starts to make the relationship with the social and cultural contexts of the countries of arrival complex and difficult. For example, the research and the interviews with some privileged witnesses showed that the relationship and the collaboration between Trade Unions and workers from Eastern Europe are often complicated by feelings of fear and suspicion of these workers towards the TUs, because of the TUs role in Regimes that gravely and terribly signed the history of many countries of origin of such workers. A social, economic and cultural complexity that has to be taken into account in the planning and implementation of the policies and in the activation of services and interventions. A complexity that is made of needs, problems and expectations and in which female immigrants, who access the services or are reached by them, are almost always bearers of complex situations of social unease and difficulty. Situations in which the interconnection linking the different aspects of exclusion is more and more evident and requires an equally multi-level answer. Before taking into consideration specific proposals, it is important to detect basic and crosssectoral formulations suitable for making the choices, the plans and the interventions that, as shown by the research, lead to the definition and implementation of services and activities really able to tackle with the weaknesses, to prevent from possible situations of social disadvantage and conflict, to support properly the processes of socio-work placement and emancipation of immigrants. The first question is the development of permanent practices and instruments of researchintervention. In fact, those who work on immigration are often confronted with a relevant weakness due to the consolidated absence of information flows, particularly as far as the access to quality data is concerned, which is particularly negative for the pioneer services and/or very innovative of the traditional welfare. A still more evident weakness is when the issues and the phenomena of interest are on one hand in continuous evolution and on the other hand, as seen above, have complex and often confused dynamics difficult to interpret as they are hidden behind various types of masks. 9

10 For this reason, in terms of policies and best practices, it is important when planning and programming the services, to include also instruments and methods of applied research because they, apart from ensuring knowledge and updating on the characteristics of the context of reference, implement and support actions aimed at the prevention and absorption of unease and at the construction of a citizenship pathway, which represents the ultimate purpose of the services and actions activated. The point is not only the academic and/or university research but the applied research, which is essential to: understand phenomena (dynamics, problems, new needs, etc); build a common memory; elaborate ideas and systematize good practices and operational models; adjust services while ongoing in order to raise their social impact and their capacity of to match the needs; conceive and programme innovative services. Therefore, the applied research is the most suitable methodology as it is a quality instrument linked to the intervention. To capacity to research, and hence to observe and interpret the phenomena, must be an intrinsic competence of the social operator. The services must be considered not only as the places for the possible answer to the needs but also extraordinary spaces for knowledge and updating. The second question concerns the basic theme of networks and integrated systems, even though they are often overused or misused. When we talk about networks, we also have to take into consideration a basic contradiction and inconsistency between purposes and practices. In fact, while everyone is talking about networks and writing about the need for networking, the networks show more holes than ties, when one takes into consideration the local areas and the responsible for the services and the functioning and operational modalities of the interventions. The reasons are: the difficulty to build the net and integrate the practices due to the coexistence of many elements concerning the various weaknesses of the social contexts; the extreme precariousness characterizing many intervention fields (more projects than services included permanently in a more complex and structured welfare programming); the persistence of prejudices and distrust between the involved parties; the extreme competition on the social market. The networks have also the problem of the integration of social public and private sectors. A relationship essential to ensuring that the interventions tackle with the complexity while being at the same time flexible in the detection of performances and interventions needed. An integration between social public and private sectors that, in order to work properly, must be based on a precise definition of roles, functions and responsibilities to be activated within the projects and the integrated practices. In this context, the role of cooperation, associationism, voluntarism has to be strengthened though it cannot replace the public role, not only as to the monitoring and evaluation of the interventions but also, and importantly, as to the preservation of the public function as an essential protection element for the rights of citizenship. Other forms of relationship, concerning the delegation and the externalization of the services, are unavoidably linked to the self-referentiality of the interventions, the raising of the threshold of access, the scarce consideration of social problems and dynamics. Lastly, as shown by the research, in order to implement good interventions, it is necessary that immigrants are considered as active parties, as co-actors with whom projects and activities must be shared. Too often, the beneficiaries of the services are considered as passive parties to whom 10

11 are offered pre-packaged solutions that do not entail in any way their choice, investment and responsabilisation. On the contrary, it is evident how concrete pathways of emancipation and autonomy can be activated only through the participation of all the involved actors, in a relationship of mutual exchange, based on a social pact from which everyone receives and on which everyone invests according to the individual possibilities. 11

12 Identification of guidelines for labour market integration As to the employment policies for immigrants, in general the research shows they must be focussed on three major directions: analysis and counselling aimed to work placement; training; personalized planning. In short, these phases can be summarized as follows: Quantity and quality analysis of the socio-economic context of the intervention, focussed on: The characteristics of the immigrants work force; The needs of enterprises; The mapping of the local system of services and supply for welfare; The needs and expectations of female and male immigrants. Construction of networks supporting the initiative, able to involve: enterprises; employers associations; trade unions; local boards, employment centres, local health enterprises; associations and social private; communities and self-organized forms of foreigners representation and participation. Centres of information, pre-training, orientation and support to work placement, that offer the following services: information and orientation front-office with functions of social secretariat; balance of competences and active search for employment filtering and matching of labour supply and demand; strengthening of basic and cross-sectoral competences vocational pathways; activation of work grants in support of training pathways. Training. Proposal of training and updating courses and pathways in line with the modifications of the labour market and the needs of enterprises through: a precise analysis of the needs of the local labour market; networking of all the actors operating in the employment sector chosen for training; teaching methods on-the-job and apprenticeships in enterprises; selection of teachers from the network of local actors or from enterprises operating in the local area; monitoring and supervision of the trainees satisfaction. Personalized planning (sometimes supported with scholarships). This is a basic instrument for a positive implementation of pathways aimed to inclusion and emancipation of foreigners, in which the work placement is the central element. The plan, built with the involvement and the participation of the immigrant, is based on a kind of social pact, continually monitored and evaluated, with investments and responsibilities of both parties, that can be adjusted while it is going on, or interrupted if one of the actors does not respects the commitments. In other words, the programme is a place where, beyond the achievement of inclusion, everyone learns forms and relationships of emancipation and autonomy. 12

13 A further theme concerns the involvement of male and female immigrant workers experiencing a condition of exploitation and illegal employment in order to detect the forms of very hard labour sometimes resembling slavery. In any case, though the deficit of knowledge and the need for indepth analyses persist, some initial though weak starting points useful for defining proper sector policies can be identified. Firstly, we can say that the direction is the implementation of networks and collaborations between the actors of the various sectors (social and health operators, public boards and institutions, police forces, employment centres etc.), as too often everybody withdraw into their specific field of activity, that almost always does not include all the competences and sensitiveness to tackle with the problems and difficulties of the people involved. A good practice and a first step towards similar forms of integration is represented, for example, by interventions to contrast the phenomenon of trafficking of human beings. Secondly, we can identify the need for common training pathways of males and females operating in the involved institutions. Lastly, it is necessary to strengthen the activities aimed to inform immigrants on themes such as rights, protection and employment safety, as often exploitation and hard labour are based on the lack of knowledge that immigrants have of the rights acknowledged to them by the legislations of the countries of arrival. 13

14 Table 1 : Strategies of intervention for the labour market integration centres of information, pre-training, orientation and support to work placement; front-office of information and orientation with functions of social secretariat; balance of competences and active search for employment; filtering and matching of labour supply and demand; strengthening of basic and cross-sectoral competences; fight against the irregular and illegal labour market and promotion of campaigns of information on the workers rights (connection of TUs and employers associations); administrative simplification of the procedures for the recognition of the immigrants qualifications and skills; campaign of information on the contribution of the immigrants work to the regional economy; counselling to work placement (role of the Employment Centres); Portal for the matching of labour supply and demand (Prefecture of Crete); Promotion of a virtuous circle of immigrants remittances and of micro-credit mechanisms to support enterprise creation. Specificities of the Greek context decentralization of functions and competences of the boards responsible for the management of the labour market; services to support immigrants in the orientation and work placement; fight against the discriminations at the place of work (black jobs, capolarato); information and awareness-raising campaign on the immigrants rights with the involvement of employers associations and local boards; romotion of complementarity and non-competition between immigrants and local work force; Creation of a monitoring system of the migration flows and their impacts on the labour market 14

15 Identification of guidelines for socio-health integration According to the analyses performed through the different research instruments, the first consideration that can be done is that, for the implementation of good practices and good local policies for immigrants, it is necessary that they are based on two parallel lines of intervention. The first one is aimed to and articulated specifically on the conditions of unease, marginalization and exclusion. The second one focuses on the activation of specific services, and especially on interventions and actions aimed at building permanent conditions of equal opportunities for immigrants to enter the local welfare system. Two fields of intervention that must clearly find proper places and spaces of coordination and common management, and the support through spread activities and services of language-cultural mediation. As to the first line of intervention, relevant are the street, neighbourhood and low-threshold interventions. But the regional policies have not been focussed on them up to now. The mapping of the regional policies from 2000 to 2004 shows that the services with a low threshold of access are included in the macro-category of reception interventions, that include very different types of intervention generally characterized by discontinuity and fragmentation. Moreover, the research points out that good practices are those services that, in their relationship with the immigrants experiencing a condition of multi-level unease and marginalisation, propose and activate: Interventions aimed at health prevention and protection and at lowering the physical and psychological risks related to a specific behaviour; Permanent actions of research and analysis on the social phenomena of interest. The street, the square are privileged observation places: the operator, besides the traditional role and function of a relationship implemented in an office within the service context, pays the same attention of a tourist visiting a place for the first time. He/She must observe, take into consideration his/her own limits, memorize languages and behaviours, consider the prostitute as a person that more than others knows the rules and the possibilities of those places and relationships; Accessible services based on the supply of opportunities, counselling, support to emancipation; Actions aimed to reduce the levels of social conflicts; Processes of construction of alliances with the communities, through low and informal networking processes; Permanent actions of monitoring and evaluation of the service, mainly in terms of impact on the beneficiaries. As to the line of the construction of equal opportunities to access the service system, particularly relevant is the programming of actions and interventions of languagecultural mediation. The research, in coherence with other regional and national surveys, shows that the languagecultural mediation is a procedure necessary for the solution of conflicts concerning social values and rules of co-housing of the ethnic minorities coming from more traditional societies in the western societies. Its major goal is that to facilitate the co-housing of these differences. Furthermore, as underlined also by some privileged witnesses, the professional profile of the language-cultural mediator is characterized through: a strict connection with the evolution and 15

16 dynamics of the immigration phenomenon; the ethnic groups and immigration projects characterizing a particular local area; the needs expressed by the immigrants population according to composition and relationships with the socio-economic context of reference. The interviews, though the difficulties described above, show some basic elements characterizing the professional profile of the language-cultural mediator. They are: He/she has the task to facilitate the communication and the understanding, both at language and cultural level, between the user belonging to an ethnic minority and the operator of a public service or board, placing him/herself in a neutral and equidistant position between the parties; He/she helps in the definition of strategies of information diffusion, with specific regard to the impact with the specific cultural areas; He/she is updated on the national legislation of the service of competence; In case of illegality, discrimination, injustice the mediator may retire and find legal protection. As to equal opportunities, the research shows the importance of the information policies and of the orientation and counselling desks. But this field shows the need for a new definition of the interventions, with specific regard to: their capacity to be structured as open services, easily accessible and friendly; their capacity to reach the service beneficiaries and not only to be reached by them, through street activities and the construction of low and informal networks with the involvement of the peer operator. 16

17 Table 2 : Strategies of intervention for socio-health integration Pathways of social integration i. Training courses, ii. Recognition of the role of the cultural mediator in socio-health services, iii. Support to local and immigrants associations to increase the social capital, iv. Training of trainers and teachers and socio-health operators on the immigrants culture, Construction of permanent conditions for the immigrants equal access to the local welfare system (immigrants registration on the RHS; maintaining of the registration during the phase of renewal of the residence permit); Creation of Information Centres (Access to socio-health services, cultural services). Specificities of the Greek context Actions favouring language integration Support to families to favour first and second level school integration Fight against school drop-outs involvement of immigrants into the networks of support to social and cultural integration Creation of a national centre of integration policies Improvement of the training of the operators of the socio-health services 17

18 Guidelines for the identification and adoption of reception and integration policies for asylum seekers, refugees, or people who otherwise need international protection, in line with the objectives and strategies of territorial cooperation The analysis realized on the Italian and Greek local contexts included in the areas of performance of Peoples project shows a scarce knowledge of the phenomenon related to the right of asylum, both as to its legislative and programming aspects and as to its implementation aimed to ensure the effective exercise of the right of asylum in the local area. Asylum seekers and refugees belong to a category of immigrants that are generally given little importance by the legislator, though their different legal status, connected to the right of seeking protection and the duty of the State to supply protection, entails a direct commitment of the State to protect the exercise of a fundamental human right. In Italy, we can observe the absence of a national legislation on asylum, though Article 10 of the Italian Constitution is one of the most advanced texts to give protection to those who escape from their countries of origin because of the violation of the fundamental liberties and provides for a statutory reserve in the application of the rule. In Greece the system of reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees is managed entirely at central level, as no programmes and projects aimed at the effective involvement of local institutions are implemented at local level. The number of reception structures is insufficient in comparison with the number of potential beneficiaries and any operational connection between central and regional and local institution is absent. The result is the scarce knowledge of the asylum phenomenon and a limited effective exercise of the right by asylum seekers and refugees. Activities of information and training The outcomes of PEOPLE S project and the needs identified in the interviews administered to operators of the third sector, local administrators, refugees under the protection systems, show the importance also at local level of information, training and awareness-raising activities on the right of asylum, on its effective exercise and on the legal status of the refugees in the asylum countries. The activities we advise are: a) Information and training activities relating to right of asylum and international legislation, with specific regard to: Declaration of the human rights (1948); Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugee (1951); New York additional Protocol relating to the Status of Refugee (1967); b) Information and training activities relating to right of asylum and European legislation, with specific regard to: The European Convention on human rights and fundamental liberties(1950) The Treaty of the European Union (1993), that introduces the asylum policy into the intergovernmental pillar The Treaty of Amsterdam (1999) 18

19 The Title IV "Visa, asylum, immigration and other Policies related to the free movement of persons", that places asylum and immigration under the supranational EU legislation The Dublin Convention (1990) replaced by the Council Regulation 343/2003 (Dublin II) With specific regard to the process of harmonization of the right of asylum in the European Union, information activities on the following Community directives: Directive 2001/55/EC on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof.- Acknowledged in Italy with D. Lgs 7 April 2003, no. 85 Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers into Member States. Acknowledged in Italy with D. Lgs. no. 140 of 30 May 2005, become effective on 21 October 2005 Directive 2004/83/EC laying down minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection (subsidiary protection) and the content of the protection granted. Acknowledged in Italy with D. Lgs. no. 251 of 19 November 2007, become effective on 19 January 2008 Directive 2005/85/EC on minimum standards on procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status Acknowledged in Italy with D. Lgs. no. 25 of 28 January 2008, become effective on 2 March c) Information and training activities relating to right of asylum and national legislation. It is advisable that the local and regional institutions prepare a handbook on the procedures and rights deriving from the qualification as refugee. Awareness-raising activities The awareness raising actions help to promote the knowledge of the themes relating to the right of asylum and its effective protection. In this sense, it is important that the implemented activities are structured on the target-groups of reference. Under PEOPLE S project Basilicata Region has promoted the diffusion, in primary and secondary schools, of didactic material relating to the themes of protection and asylum prepared by an association of Matera, lead partner in the protection system for asylum seekers and refugees and, as member of the SPRAR (Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees), is responsible for weak categories. In view of an inter-institutional connection, Basilicata Region has enabled, under PEOPLE S project, the membership of the Municipality of Potenza to the International Cities of Refuge Network (www. ICORN.org), together with Cities such as Barcelona, Frankfurt, Edinburgh, Oslo, Mexico City, Stockholm, and the grant of an annual apprenticeship to a female refugee coming from Zimbabwe. The ICORN Project consists of hosting, one year long, an internationally famous intellectual (writer, painter, film director etc) who, because of his/her ideas is victim of persecution in his/her country of origin, and of placing him/her in a cultural pathway based on exchanges and relationships with the local community. The international ICORN Office is located in Norway. The Municipality of Potenza, from March 2007, hosted a female journalist-documentarist from Zimbabwe 19

20 and implemented, in collaboration with Basilicata Region and the National Library, a cultural pathway with the participation of primary and secondary schools, third sector, local institutions and the citizenship as a whole. The host of the City of Potenza had the opportunity, during the year, to plan and shoot a documentary, Soul in Torment, on the realization of civil and political rights in Zimbabwe, that was shown during the cultural initiatives organized in the Region. Territorial policies In the framework of the reception and integration policies in favour of asylum seekers, refugees, and people who otherwise need international protection, and for the purpose of implementing policies in line with the objectives and the strategies of territorial cooperation, very important is the creation of multi-level governance instruments aimed to: 1) Start concertation policies between the different levels of the territorial administration (central, regional, local level) responsible for the adoption and management of asylum policies, through the preparation of multi-year programming documents participated and shared by all the stakeholders (international organisations, NGOs, third sector); 2) Favour and strengthen inter-institutional connections and complementarities of the actions at territorial level between Region, Provinces and Municipalities; in this sense, an effective instrument in support of effective social and integration policies could be the inclusion of asylum policies into the Integrated Social Area Plans, under Law no. 328/2000, Provisions for the realization of the integrated System of social interventions and services ); 3) Favour the implementation of reception and integration decentred systems, through the involvement of local partners: Local boards, the regional school system, the University, regional health centres, socio-assistance services, public enterprises supplying services to persons, charitable institutions and TUs etc.; 4) Promote partnerships aimed at the co-development, through the involvement of the direct beneficiaries of the interventions and, eventually, of the countries of origin; 5) Share and experiment reception and integration pathways in favour of refugees within a larger local area, at macro-regional and trans-national level 6) Analyse and spread case studies representing some best practices at legislative, programming and operational level, with regard to the role that the direct beneficiaries of the interventions of territorial cooperation (Regions, local boards etc.), though within the limits of their own competences, can play for the protection and effectiveness of the exercise of the right of asylum. The activity of diffusion of best practices becomes more and more relevant in the framework of the interventions implemented under the neighbourhood policy in the basin of the Mediterranean, and it could also become a discussion and confrontation forum on the asylum-linked themes with the countries of the southern side of the Mediterranean. 7) Use, for the development of effective reception and integration policies, programming and planning instruments proper of the territorial cooperation, aimed at the promotion of activities to be implemented in partnership, through the creation of networks for the detection and exchange of good practices and actions for the capitalization of the outcomes achieved at territorial level. Strengthening of the role of the Regions 20

21 In the Italian and Greek legal systems, the State has exclusive legislative power in the field of immigration and legal status of foreigners. In the Italian legislation, Regions can use their own legislative instruments aimed at facilitating the promotion, on the regional territory, of reception and integration policies in favour of foreigners. In Italy, the role of the Regions, in the protection and exercise of the right of asylum, is new and rather recent, and it is is becoming more and more important, if one considers that the Italian legislation does not include a national organic law on the right of asylum. Undoubtedly, a more active role of the Regions in the programming, identification and implementation of interventions aimed at improving the policies of asylum and reception in favour of asylum seekers and refugees is desirable. Regions can implement some activities relating to: Observation and monitoring of the numbers of asylum seekers and refugees on the regional territories, and exercise of an actual competitive power for the protection of the right of asylum; Mapping of the services supplied by formal and informal networks, besides the reception structures; Training interventions for the operators; Implementation of information/awareness-raising actions aimed at local administrators and the citizenship in general on the theme of asylum; Activation, in the framework of the interventions of territorial cooperation, of tools for the diffusion of the best practices identified. In this sense, actions aimed at the creation and strengthening of the regional network of institutions, operators of the third sector and non-governmental boards is desirable. As to the integration pathways and the possible ways to improve the supply of measures and services, the Regions can play, in agreement with the local boards, a key role in the elaboration of integration programmes in favour of asylum seekers and refugees relating for example to housing, access to health assistance, education and social services. Regions can help with the implementation of training programmes aimed at the operators of the sector (health operators, teachers, psychologists, interpreters, lawyers, social operators, local institutions, NGOs etc); The Italian Regions can help in ensuring effectiveness to the exercise of the right of asylum and in indicating a model of multi-level governance to Greek Regions promoting a decentred system for the development of policies and interventions in favour of asylum seekers and refugees. This approach is necessary also in order to promote the integration and complementarity of policies and operational programmes, raising their effectiveness and efficiency. Best practices at regional level The regional law of Emilia Romagna no. 5 of 24 March 2004 lays down Rules for the social integration of immigrant foreign citizens. It is the first regional law that regulates, on a three-year programming basis, interventions in favour of immigrants. Article 2 lays down a rule for asylum seekers, refugees and stateless. The law underlines the importance of the interinstitutional connection with the Provinces and the Municipalities, also as to the implementation of 21

22 the Area Plans laid down and facilitated by some of the rules. The law focuses on the added value of co-development, to be eventually implemented through the connection with the countries of origin. The regional law of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region no. 5 of 4 March 2005 laying down Rules for the reception and social integration of male and female immigrants, at article 2 provides that recipients of the present law are... stateless, asylum seekers and refugees present on the regional territory. Article 14 of the regional law of FVG Region pays special attention to the condition of asylum seekers and refugees where, at par. 1 states that the Region participate in the protection of the right of asylum promoting specific interventions for the reception, legal counselling and social integration of asylum seekers, refugees, victims and beneficiaries of protection for humanitarian reasons present on the regional territory, with specific regard to minors, women, victims of torture FVG regional law delineates the implementation of models of multi-level governance, in the framework of the valorisation and potentiation of the inter-institutional connection between Region, Provinces and Municipalities. In fact, Article 14, par. 2, states that The regional interventions have the priority to support the territorial interventions aimed at the protection of asylum seekers and refugees implemented by the municipalities, also under programmes funded by the State or the European Union. Par. 3 furthermore, the Region is authorized to award associations and boards registered in the regional Register funds for the implementation of interventions under par. 1. The Italian context As to the Italian situation of asylum policies, an organic law on the right of asylum that valorises the experience of the SPRAR is needed, maintaining the present involvement of Local boards and Third Sector as volunteers and overcoming the system of the annual national Call for proposals for a three-year programming, favouring programming and coordination of initiatives at regional level. The three-year programme should favour the implementation of more effective programmes of social integration that, in a medium-to-long term, can deal with the needs and demands of weak persons like the refugees. Also actions aimed to enlarge the reception capacity of the protection system and to strengthen the services dedicated to the integration of the refugees should be promoted in the framework of the valorisation of the model of decentred reception. Furthermore, the local Commissions for granting the refugee status should receive adequate financial resources and enable the local boards to appoint their representatives to the Commissions. Promoting the signature of protocols The Protocols for the protection of the right of asylum represent very effective instruments for the realization of integrated interventions at regional level in support of the reception and protection of the asylum seekers and refugees. The protocol is in fact an instrument able to lay down a regional plan of interventions in the field of social policies in favour of asylum seekers and refugees that, within the limits of the reciprocal 22

23 competences, results in a joint programming between institutions and third sector (regional and local institutions and boards, associations and other protection boards, third sector Forum, TUs etc.) The intervention fields regulated in the protocols are: Promotion of common training and updating pathways for social operators and public employees; promotion of information and awareness-raising campaigns on the right of asylum, with specific regard to the organization of the events for the world refugee day (20 June); Monitoring of the phenomenon at local level (number of immigrants in the local area and implemented interventions); adoption of specific programmes for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees; identification of reception and integration pathways; cooperation with the Countries of origin for the implementation of programmes of assisted voluntary repatriation. 23

24 Table 3 : Strategies of intervention for asylum seekers integration In the framework of the reception and integration policies in favour of asylum seekers, refugees, or people who otherwise need international protection, creation of multi-level governance instruments in order to: i) favour and strengthen the inter-institutional connection and complementarity of actions promoted at territorial level by Region, Provinces and Municipalities. An effective instrument in support of valid social policies of integration could be the inclusion of the asylum policies in the social integrated Area Plans, law no. 328/2000, Provisions for the realization of the integrated System of interventions and social services ; ii) favour the adoption of decentred systems of reception and integration, through the involvement of local partners: Local boards, the regional school system, the University, regional health service centres, socio-assistance services etc; Organic regulation of the right of asylum that valorises the experience of the SPRAR, maintaining the present involvement of Local boards and Third sector as volunteers; the valorisation should lead to overcome the system of the national annual Call for proposals in favour of a three-year programming of planning and coordination initiatives at regional level. Enlargement of the reception capacity of the protection system and potentiation of the services dedicated to the integration of refugees, in the framework of the valorisation of the model of decentred reception. Adequate financial resources awarded to the territorial Commissions for granting the refugee status in order to enable local boards to appoint representatives in the Commissions. 24